Differences in regeneration requirements among species have been the focus of research to explain the high species diversity of tropical forest. However, most studies have concentrated on regeneration strategies related to sexual reproduction, neglecting the contribution of vegetative propagation Even though it has been recognized that a variety of tropical plant species have the potential to reproduce vegetatively, the actual frequency of different modes of reproduction in natural populations remains unknown. Vegetative reproduction can be a particularly important regeneration pathway for small-seeded understory species that have low recruitment success from seeds. The primary goal of this proposal is to determine the relative role that vegetative reproduction plays in the regeneration of species of tropical understory shrubs, and to evaluate the consequences of this mode of reproduction in terms of genetic diversity and mating opportunities. Plants will be mapped and similarities among their genetic fingerprints will be used to distinguish the clones from the genetically distinct individuals in the field. Combining the genetic and the spatial data I will be able to determine dispersion of clones and the frequency of establishment by sexual and vegetative reproduction in the population. This study will improve our understanding of tropical ecology in areas such as colonization, recruitment, gene flow, and population demography and genetics. The support of this grant will provide training in molecular techniques for a Panamanian woman scientist. Furthermore, the database of genetic information, with the geographic locations of individual plants will be made available to the research community to address a myriad of ecological and evolutionary questions, where knowledge of the genotypes and genetic relationships among plants is essential.
